..."The only certainty that has emerged from research on the forgery is that very probably work was done on its composition between 750 and 850 AD. As soon as we attempt to be more precise than that, we enter a minefield of conjecture. In any case a detailed consideration of the origin of the forgery would be quite outside the scope of this discussion. In fact a period of some centuries had to elapse before legal minds became interested in the document. And even as a weapon in papal policy it was used entirely sporadically almost right up to the time of Gregory IX." ...